As the Managing Director of one of Europe’s top PR agencies for the energy industry, Alastair Turner is responsible for creating buzz, managing crises and building brands. He talks to PES about all the essential issues and offers some indispensable advice for wind executives everywhere. PES: Welcome to PES magazine. Can you explain a little… Read more »
Talk of wind turbines and we tend to think of huge structures out in the country, conjuring up visions of a romantic idyll with a few delicately spinning blades on the horizon. The truth of the matter, however, is that of late these contemporary icons are as likely to be seen on the outskirts of… Read more »
Words: David Parkin A crucial consideration for the entire renewables sector, with particular relevance to wind, storage is a burning, and imminent issue. David Parkin, Head of Renewable Energy for Atkins, presents the issues from a British standpoint and discusses how they mesh into the wider European framework. The UK is at the forefront of… Read more »
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a brave new plan to build offshore wind turbines, producing a total of 3,000 MW and requiring a massive investment of €10bn Euros. A call for bids for the construction of the turbines was to be launched later this year, the president said, adding that 600 turbines were to… Read more »
As the Managing Director of world-renowned ladder manufacturer Hailo, Winfried Czilwa has a knack for spotting commercial opportunities in a diverse range of business sectors. Here, he talks to PES about the company’s operations in the wind power arena. PES: Welcome to PES magazine. Can you begin by giving us an overview of your company… Read more »
Finding clean energy is one of the biggest concerns of our times. Global warming and the limited availability of fossil fuels are just two factors in the hunt for alternative energy solutions. One key player in the battle to solve the world’s energy problems is wind power. Lately wind power turbines have become state-of-the-art power… Read more »
For Frank Scheuch, Managing Director of Intellifast GmbH, the success of a company relies on many interconnecting ingredients. PES picks up once again with the engaging wind power executive to discuss how his company is constantly evolving with the times to meet the demands of the market. PES: Welcome back to PES magazine. For the… Read more »
Wind turbines are extremely sophisticated pieces of machinery and require an application-specific expertise to maximise their life and profitability. The main gearbox is a particularly critical component of the wind turbine that needs careful consideration from a lubrication perspective. Recently, PES had the opportunity to speak with Michael Hawkins, Global Brand Manager for Mobil SHC… Read more »
As head of one of the ‘greenest companies’ in America, Pall’s Keith Webb has a duty not only to his stakeholders, but also to the global community as a whole. It’s a responsibility he ably administers, driven by a zeal for innovation and corporate success. Here, he tells PES about the company’s rapid growth, its… Read more »
A 176 year-old-operation, Rickmers-Linie is a member of the Hamburg-based Rickmers Group and provides a worldwide network of liner services for the transportation of breakbulk, heavylift and project cargoes such as transformers, generators, railway locomotives – and of course, wind turbines. PES once again caught up with the company’s Director of Marketing and Sales, Gerhard… Read more »
Transporting wind power components by ship requires a lot of expertise and experience. Employing its own team of experts with many years of specialist knowledge in this arena, shipbroker COLI provides the appropriate tonnage – made-to-measure for all cargo components, including complete wind turbines. When the ship intended to carry the cargo ties up at… Read more »
A recent study to quantify renewable energy deployment in North America by the US-based National Academies of Science found that, in terms of national wind power potential, Russia came way ahead of its nearest rivals, with more than 118 Pwh (Petawatt hours). Next on the list was Australia, with a meagre-looking 86 Pwh. No wonder,… Read more »
118 new offshore wind turbines were fully connected to the grid in the first half of 2010 according to new statistics released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). PES takes a closer look at the trends and figures behind the headlines in this exclusive report. Top-line statsIn the first six months of 2010, 118… Read more »
Words: Birgit Niesing The wind is always more constant at sea than on land – and much stronger. That’s why the wind energy industry is increasingly looking to offshore facilities. The first German wind farm in the North Sea – the ‘alpha ventus’ test and demonstration site – went online just a few months ago…. Read more »
In order to fight climate change, improve energy security, enhance Europe’s competitiveness, and maintain our technological leadership, the European wind industry – together with the European Commission and Member States – has developed a 10-year research and development programme. PES brings you the exclusive highlights of this recently-published study. With a €6bn budget, approximately half… Read more »
It’s an incredibly busy and interesting time to be involved in the European wind industry, Bruce Douglas, COO, EWEA tells PES. Among other ways to get more involved are adopting a wind turbine as your own and attending one or more of the many trade fairs that are taking place throughout Europe … If you… Read more »
A week ago, Statoil AS, Norway’s largest energy company, revealed plans to build a demonstration site testing floating offshore wind turbines off the coast of Scotland. It’s a move that rubber-stamps the industry’s gradual shift to floating platforms, but is the technology up to the task. PES takes a look at the various engineering challenges…. Read more »
Recently a momentous event took place when the official ribbon was cut at Antarctica’s largest wind farm. Located on Ross Island at New Zealand’s Scott Base, the almost 1 MW facility is powered by three 333 kW Enercon wind turbines and will provide up to 11 per cent of the power needed by the base,… Read more »
New energy generation constitutes a major investment, often to the value of hundreds of millions or potentially billions of Euros. And such spending results in widespread economic development, in the form of increased work opportunities, higher salaries, and new customers for local business. PES examines the greater impact of channelling wind farm investment into the… Read more »
So you thought Google was just a highly successful internet search engine? The company’s energy arm recently signed a deal to buy 114 megawatts of energy from a wind farm in Iowa, marking the first deal done by the company’s energy subsidiary A Google spokesman said the company had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement… Read more »
Although Europe is a vast, sprawling continent bursting with innovation, our Asian cousins are old hands at taking a sideways look at the world – as these ingenious turbines from Japan clearly illustrate. At the recent Yokohama Renewable Energy Exhibition, Japanese technology threw-up some exciting developments for the sector, including this revolutionary turbine system that… Read more »
PES regularly publishes exclusive features from Rickmers-Linie, but we’ve never had the honour of a face-to-face interview with any of the company’s executives. Until now. We travelled to Hamburg to catch-up with the Director of Marketing and Sales, Gerhard Janssen, to find out a little more about him, his organisation, and his thoughts on the… Read more »
Gavin Brown, Reward Information Consultant at global management consultancy Hay Group, tells PES why companies are worried about retaining talent in the renewable energy sector with an increasing number of managers in the renewable energy sector worrying about holding on to their best talent… While other areas in our national economies are battening down the… Read more »
All eyes in the industry will shortly be on the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition taking place from 6-10 September at the Feria Valencia fairground in Spain. Here PES presents its exclusive preview of the event which could not have come at a more crucial time for the industry. This year’s PV… Read more »
As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once memorably observed: “Everything is in a state of flux.” If a modern-day proof of this axiom were required, we need look no further than the renewable energy industry where it looks like a paradigm shift – involving the US and Europe – is about to take place …… Read more »
The views on offshore wind projects are as divided as can be, so the slightly polemic title of this article is probably appropriate. There are some who argue that offshore wind is the way to go, and to go now. And there are others who argue that offshore wind is too expensive and too risky… Read more »
The UK has just entered into an historic period of coalition government, which promises to throw the nation’s hard-fought wind power policies into disarray. The coalition governments of Germany, Italy and Austria on the other hand, are forging ahead with inspired legislation, which may shine a light on Britain’s efforts. However, until these governments’ pioneering… Read more »
The first offshore wind park globally was installed in Denmark in 1991. Since then the offshore wind energy market has been developing slowly. Currently, majority of the installations in Europe are located in Denmark and the UK, countries that possess rich wind resources. There is no doubt that offshore installations offer higher productivity when compared… Read more »
For as long as there has been a global wind industry, Husum, a town on Germany’s North Sea coast between Hamburg and the Danish border, has been the venue for its leading trade fair. Yet Husum was showing the latest developments in wind turbine technology long before the industry went global… Technology, innovation, training, and… Read more »
The size of both turbines and wind farms have increased exponentially in recent months thanks to a potent mix of technical improvements, legislation, subsidies and public awareness. Naturally, everyone’s got an opinion on the supersizing of the wind industry… “There is a wonderful race on. It’s very tight and the prize is domination of the… Read more »
High costs of welcoming Hungary to the fold The time taken to connect wind farms to the grid, and the high costs of doing so, are the main barriers to wind energy development in Hungary, it has been revealed in Budapest at a workshop organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Hungarian… Read more »
PES last spoke to Robert Bürkle GmbH’s Managing Director in 2008, when Hans-Joachim Bender was bullish about the company’s future prospects. Indeed, he said: “Bürkle orientates itself on the known forecasts for developments in the photovoltaic industry. This has resulted in a strategy that is valid until the year 2012, and during this time the… Read more »
Upsolar is a global company, specialising in the design, engineering and manfacture of solar photovoltaic modules. It adheres to a policy of strict quality control in its manufacturing process to provide itsworldwide customers with reliable, excellent products for all residential and commercial projects. Here PES speaks to Adrien Pellarin the company’s Technical Support Manager …… Read more »
Family-owned Watlow was founded in 1922 and holds more than 50 patents, employing 2,000 employees, working in 11 manufacturing facilities in the US, Mexico, Europe and Asia. The company has sales offices in 14 countries around the world and a global distributor network. Jake Lindley is a senior engineer at the company, where he specialises… Read more »
As Director of Sales and Marketing of the Optical Sensor Systems Group forCarl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, Jürgen Gobel is at the beating heart of the PV industry. Having witnessed several revolutionary changes, he’s upbeat about the future of the industry and the technical progress his company continues to make. Welcome back to PES. How has… Read more »
For more than 50 years, Italian-based Bottero has been a world leader in every sector of the glass industry including hollow glass, special engineering, flat laminated and monolithic glass. The company offers a wide range of reliable products thanks to its policy of continuous investment in research and development … Back in the 1970s when… Read more »